Harris students are wicked awesome!!!

The acting CDC director has now approved ACIP recs allowing anyone 6 months+ to receive an updated Covid-19 shot after discussing w/ their provider. If you are on the fence about getting an updated shot, read my in-depth take on the evidence we've accumulated on these vaccines. #publichealth

The letter is ready, thanks to all those who helped out! Starting to gather signature now, please consider signing (link at top of letter) & spread the word. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

AI use and data centers are causing ComEd bills to spike — and it will likely get worse. blockclubchi.co/4oSSwOS

These were two policy briefings and a peer-reviewed article produced by undergraduates under my supervision in 2023 and 2024. The letter demands that Brown take the work off its websites. Here's the work: www.climatedevlab.brown.edu/anti-offshor...

Cool RCT of the impact of exercise on cancer outcomes. The effect was big enough that they stopped earlier than their power calculations suggested!

Hard to watch. Kudos to journo to getting ghoul REP Tim Burchett to say on air that we can’t afford to help (though we can, and have for years)

Just how many bald people who are unaware they’re bald are there?

It's been 2 years (+ 1 month) since I left academia. In case anyone is wondering, I have zero regrets. Indeed, I'm living my best life and am so happy I made the leap. If you're considering leaving too, here are some thoughts on how to explore your options/find a job you'll love...

Great read on invasive plants in forests around Chicago. TL;DR: they're out of control. 77% of forests have been overrun (see: map) & require constant maintenance.

So every foreign student coming to do a PhD at a US university—some of the best and brightest young minds in the world!—will no longer know they have *permission* to even be in the US until they graduate.

Came up w/ a potential instrument to solve an identification issue that was holding a research project back on a call this morning. My rarely exuberant coauthor (& former advisor) said, "that's a really good idea!" multiple times.

I just saw someone text & drive… on a motorcycle… on the highway… in Chicago. He was texting with both hands too. Risk aversion is a heterogeneous thing!

I have written about this before, when it was suggested as a possibility shortly after the inauguration. A quick summary here--in short, there's little clever or thoughtful about it, though there is some legal strategy at work, however cynical. 1/n www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...

This is horrific. And it is happening under our watch (and, even worse, with our assistance).

16 children have died of starvation in Gaza this month alone. I don't have any other words. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/w...

An amazing scoop by a 17yo high school journo. A long list of wealthy Trump fans donate to the Republican Party of Guam which then sends $ to RNC. This roundabout route is bc they already maxed out donation limit to RNC. Some advisor thought nobody would dig into Guam. But then came Zach Kahn.

A good family friend just got her Green Card! My whole family was together when she called to tell us it was approved a while back, & I don't think I've ever heard so much joy in a person's voice. I can't put into words how excited I am for her. I can't imagine how she must be feeling. 😀

Hyde Park ended Pride Month w/ a flourish at dusk last night.

Each month, the island sees around 4,000 solar-plus-battery storage systems come online. As of April, over a GW of grid-connected distributed solar capacity along with more than 2 GWh of distributed batteries are connected to Puerto Rico's electricity grid. 🔌💡 spectrum.ieee.org/puerto-rico-...

“It doesn’t make me love my country less. It makes me love it more b/se I see all these people standing up for my dad... this country is all about... coming together as a community, loving each other & helping each other out..."

🚨 Nonprofit & philanthropy leaders! Join the 2025 Science of Philanthropy Initiative (SPI) Conference to team up with top researchers on bold, data-driven giving solutions. Led by @johnlist.bsky.social & Amir Pasic. Apply 👉 ow.ly/htlX50Wf1To #SPI2025 #nonprofit #philanthropy

If you work for a #nonprofit, let us help you make the world a better place w/ science! On September 17, match w/ researchers at the Science of Philanthropy Initiative Conference to tackle your charitable-giving questions: fs2.formsite.com/UChicagoEcon... #philanthropy #charity #econsky

The Philadelphia Fed's Grad Student mentoring program deadline is coming up: 6/20 ⏰ We prioritize nearby universities but have accepted applicants from all over the country. Apply! www.philadelphiafed.org/the-economy/...

Great picture from graduation w/ two fantastic students from the Harris Class of 2025, their son (Class of ~2050), & a stellar colleague!

Excellent column by Tom Friedman ... www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/o...

Disability Policy Friends: I haven't seen too many posts about this so I want to make sure people are aware. The Department of Energy is attempting to roll back certain Section 504 protections and will do so unless they receive "significant adverse comments" by June 16th.

I just found out about The OEC: an impressive collection of policy-focused opinion articles by our fourth-year Public Policy students! Articles are based on their capstone projects. voices.uchicago.edu/undergradope...

Despite protests already being managed by the Los Angeles Police Department, President Trump is escalating the situation by threatening to deploy roughly 500 active-duty Marines to the streets of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: Remain peaceful. Don’t fall into the trap that extremists are hoping for.

Today I almost crashed my bike on my way home because

Great article from the UVA Alumni Association magazine explaining the impacts of the Trump admin's new policies on research & why they matter to the audience (a broad set of college grads who are mostly not familiar w/ the ins & outs of university research). uvamagazine.org/articles/res...

It is 2025. Everyone has a handheld supercomputer. AI can write essays, create art, & generate almost-believable video. And I am still entering student letter grades by hand via error-prone drop-down boxes that are disconnected from my class' learning management system.

Indescribable video. The population health effects of this horror will persist for generations. www.bbc.com/news/article...

🧵 When authoritarian leaders attack judges as "enemies," history shows us exactly where this leads. Trump's assault on "USA HATING JUDGES" isn't just inflammatory rhetoric—it's following a script written by strongmen worldwide. But other countries show us how to fight back.

The slaying of a beautiful instrumental variable by an ugly fact.

Have you done this yet? Did you want to? Deadline today.

Other higher ed institutions should offer to enroll Harvard students, but allow them to take courses at Harvard. This has been done before. In my 3rd year of grad school, I spent the year at the University of Chicago as a visitor, but my tuition was paid to my home institution of UW-Madison.

Michigan's @slotkin.senate.gov was the only Dem voting with the Republicans to revoke California's waiver. Disappointing. rollcall.com/2025/05/22/i...

Seeing headlines about 1.5–2 years of gains from a 6-wk AI pgm? That's not the intervention impact. It's back of envelope & assumes estimated daily gains from 1st 6 wk scale linearly Actual effect: .23 SDs Encouraging for internatl ed, but more careful thought & less razzle-dazzle, please.

An IT worker for the nat'l parks drove to a bridge & called a friend to talk him down. A Medicaid researcher killed herself after repeating "I’m not enough" to her family. A Social Security worker, whose data was under siege by DOGE, died at her cubicle. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Trump, who insisted foreign suppliers would eat the tariffs, now demands that Walmart eat them at the retail level. What Walmart needs is everyday low tariffs. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The article this links to is gruesome and fascinating

TODAY the NYT publishes an investigation into the Trump memecoin $TRUMP and how it has turned into a extraordinary venue for foreign influence campaigns. What we are seeing is potentially corrupt attempts to change US policy by paying the Trump family money. This is no "Russian Hoax" nyti.ms/4kkv7D7

I appreciate that the Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences has this prominently placed at the top of their main webpage right now. as.tufts.edu

Apparently Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines and Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea are the standard-bearers of the conservative and liberal wings of the church, and were both present in the Conclave. So, the Church appropriately cloistered their standard-bearers.

Has anyone estimated the causal impact of crypto-mining on green energy production? I've only seen evidence that miners are propping up aging, dirty production.

A former Chicago alderman has gone viral for giving a man his jacket on the Blue Line: "A reminder to be kind." buff.ly/gGzivjm

Everything about this Reconciliation bill in Natural Resources is a total lie. It’s bad for our: - Economy - Environment - Communities That’s why we’re prepared to sit here all day and fight it every step of the way.

This 👇!